Madagascar
is the world's fourth largest island and following independence in 1960 it
replaced one form of unwanted rule with a succession of unstable governments,
coups and assassination attempts at odds with a military aim of creating a
'socialist paradise' with firm ties to the Soviet Union and the spurning of
ties with the west. The last such coup was in 2009 and in there has been political instability since that time leaving a government barely able to meet the many challenges the country faces not least the famine that hit the southern areas of the island in 2021. As such, istead of being an island paradise in the Indian Ocean,
Madagascar is in 164th place out of 189 countries and territories in 2019 when ranked in terms of life expectancy, literacy, access to knowledge and the living standards of a country.
Then on 21st May 2021, Amnesty International issued an alert regarding the situation in the country warning "more than a million people [are] facing hunger due to the devastating famine currently ravaging southern Madagascar." Today children are being pulled out of schools,
factories are closing, hospitals are struggling and running out of supplies against a
backdrop of over half the country's children already suffering from malnourishment. Half of all children under the age of five will die of diarrhoea, those who do
survive will suffer from frequent bouts of illness even at
school, where only 18% of Madagascar's schools have access to
drinking water
and only 30% have toilets. Nearly 70% of Madagascar's
population lives below the poverty with poverty rising to 85% in rural areas,
which is home to 80% of the country's 20 million population.
Of the 9,571,000
children in Madagascar, there are 910,000 orphans, just under 10%,and 11,000 of
these have been orphaned by AIDS (although some sources put this higher at
30,000) with five children being born every day in Madagascar with the virus. Overall 43% of
the country's population is under the age of 15yrs old (compared with 17% for
the UK) and many grow up without adult care having to fend for themselves or
being brought up in child-headed families. Child sponsor programs in Madagascar focus
on providing care to orphaned and abandoned children, access to water, health and
education projects, food aid and working with HIV awareness and prevention.
You
can make a difference when you sponsor a child from Madagascar.
Child Sponsor Madagascar: SOS Children's Villages
|
Child Sponsor Madagascar: Thrive Madagascar
|
Child Sponsor Madagascar: Iris Madagascar
|
Child Sponsor Madagascar: Ankizy Gasy Foundation
|
Child Sponsor Madagascar: Madagascar Children
|
Child Sponsor Madagascar: Volunteer in Madagascar
|
![]() |
Details of current volunteer work
opportunities in each of the
countries of Africa.
Find how to sponsor a child in Africa
with our list of organisations,
charities, programs and projects.
Discover all about Africa, its tourist
attractions, history, people, culture
and daily life there.
A treasure trove of African
resources from webcams to
free downloads and news.